Sacrifice to temples ...

When you sacrifice the fruit of your work to a committee of devotees (such as a temple trust or church), it will not be properly utilized. The devotees, who manage the collected funds, are not Sarvajna (all-knowing) like the Lord. A group of ten lecturers cannot be treated as one professor. Therefore, any number of devotees cannot become equal to the Lord. Karma Phala Tyaga is easier than Karma Sanyasa and Karma Sanyasa is easier than meditation. This does not mean that meditation is the greatest and Karma Phala Tyaga is the least. The Lord has one divine quality called ‘Sowlabhya’ (easy to approach). This divine quality is very much in the Lord. This means that the Lord is available very easily in human form. Does that mean that the Lord is the least? In the twelfth chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, Karma Phala tyaga is mentioned as the easiest thing to do. This does not mean that the Karma Phala tyaga has least importance.

People sacrifice their money to feed the beggars. But, remember if the beggar does a sin with the energy given by your food, you have to share that sin. You must spend lot of time to detect the deserving person. People are hasty in giving donations at a temple and distribute ten coins to ten beggars in five minutes and came back thinking that they have earned ‘Punyam’ [Good Karma]. You were very particular of the place and time (Desha and Kala) of your donation. You think that if you donate at Varanasi on the day of Shiva Ratri, you can get the punyam. You don’t care to search for the deserving person (Patra). Store all the coins that you want to donate and go on searching for a deserving person. Whatever may be the place and whatever may be the time, when you get a deserving person give all the coins to him. That place becomes Varanasi and that time becomes Shiva Ratri.

Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said that one should not enter into the work of serving the world unless the command is obtained from God. Shankara taught divine knowledge. Next came Ramanuja and He taught about devotion. Then came Madhva and He taught about service. These are the three gradual steps in spirituality. Knowledge (Jnana) is the root cause and generates devotion. As knowledge grows, devotion also grows. By devotion, the Lord is achieved. Therefore, devotion is the cause to attain the Lord as said in the Gita (Bhaktyaa Tvananyayaa). Service is the proof of real devotion.

Rukmini got knowledge from Narada and developed devotion by which she obtained the Lord. But, her devotion was without any aspiration for the fruit. She loved Krishna not to become the queen of Dwaraka. She sat at the feet of the Lord and pressed His divine feet throughout her life. Thus, her service proved her real devotion. Knowledge is the degree. Devotion is the job obtained due to that degree. Service is the work done on the job. The salary is the grace of God. The salary is given for the work done on the job. Therefore, the direct cause of the salary is only the service done by you.

Knowledge and devotion can be viewed as the year-wise academic course studied by a student. Service is the annual examination. The study in the whole year indicates the quantity of knowledge studied by you. But, the examination will reveal the quantity of knowledge digested by you.